Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde

Where do you call home? Home used to be such a simple concept, but I’ve struggled to define it lately. For the first few years of life, home was where I lived with my parents in a small town near the Oklahoma panhandle. Home had brown tile floors that I tottered across at the heels of my red-haired cousin. My family, friends and belongings were all there. Things got more complicated when we moved to an Oklahoma City suburb and I left for college, but now that I’ve moved out of my home state, I really don’t know what or where home is.

I visited Oklahoma the week before last for the first time since moving to Kansas City. There I was laughing with my dearest friends around a table at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but my old apartment wasn’t mine any more. The town that I had lived in for the past eight years felt like home, once removed. I spent a few nights at my parents’ place, too. They moved to a bigger house after I left for college; I still don’t know where all the light switches are. I suppose it will always be home since my parents are there but it feels a little empty now that my brothers have left the nest, too.

Here I am in Kansas City, which is feeling more like home. Everything has its place now, including Cookie, who is curled up by my feet on our new couch. We can call it home for now, I guess?

I’m not exactly sure what to call this burrito, either. I do love how Mexican food has a different word for every traditional incarnation of tortillas, cheese and fillings/toppings. Burritos, tacos, tostadas, huevos rancheros, quesadillas, nachos: each tasty in its own right.

What we have here is a lightly baked burrito of modest size—a borderline enchilada, really—smothered in a zesty avocado sauce. I wanted to incorporate as much sauce as I possibly could in this burrito, so I just drowned the burrito in the stuff from above. At that rate, eating the burrito required a fork, so why bother rolling in the sides of the tortilla? Might as well sprinkle the insides with cheese and bake it for a few minutes so it all sticks together instead.

I had originally planned to make an avocado crema, but after blending avocados in the food processor, it was evident that puréed avocados from Mexico are plenty rich and creamy on their own. I thought about making a homemade salsa verde but all the tomatillos I could find were subpar this late in the season. I skipped on over to the salsa aisle with an excuse to take a shortcut (who doesn’t like a good shortcut?). At home, I blended the avocados with flavorful salsa verde, fresh lime juice, cilantro and garlic. The end result is an addictive avocado salsa verde reminiscent of the sauce covering my favorite burrito at the aforementioned Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s.

Maybe we don’t need a word for this super fresh burrito-enchilada hybrid after all. It’s good; let’s leave it at that.

Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde

Author:Cookie and Kate

Prep Time:15 mins

Cook Time:45 mins

Total Time:1 hour

Yield:4

Category:Main

Cuisine:Mexican

★★★★★

4.9 from 28 reviews

Sweet potato burritos with black beans, smothered in a simple but flavorful avocado salsa verde sauce. See notes for how to make these in advance. Recipe yields 4 to 6 burritos, depending on how full you stuff them.

Toppings

1 ½ cups chopped romaine lettuce

1 small red onion, finely chopped

Finely chopped jalapeño, optional

Sour cream, optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Scrub and peel the sweet potatoes. Chop them into large, bite-sized chunks, about 1 to 1 ½-inches wide/long and ½-inch deep. Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil, cumin, smoked hot paprika, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Make sure they are lightly coated in oil on all sides. Pour the sweet potatoes onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange the sweet potatoes evenly in a single layer. Do not overcrowd. Bake for about 45 minutes, flipping the sweet potato chunks halfway, until they are golden and caramelized around the edges.

Make the avocado sauce: in a food processor or a good blender, combine the avocado flesh, salsa verde, garlic, jalapeño (skip this if your salsa is spicy) and lime juice. Blend. Add the cilantro and blend again. Add water to thin out the sauce if desired; the sauce should glop easily off a spoon. Taste and blend in some sea salt or add another squeeze of lime if necessary. This sauce should taste like a real kick in the mouth; you’ll know you’re done when you can’t stop going in for another spoonful of the stuff.

Make sure the oven is still on at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.* Place your tortillas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In the middle of each tortilla, put down a couple strips of roasted red pepper, then pour ⅓ cup black beans down the center and top it all with ⅓ cup roasted sweet potato chunks. Sprinkle ¼ cup or more of jack cheese on top. Pull one edge of the tortilla over to the center of the burrito, then pull the opposite edge over to overlap a bit. Gently roll the burrito over. Repeat with remaining burritos. Bake your burritos for about 5 minutes on the middle rack, until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are lightly crisp.

Carefully transfer each burrito to a plate. Smother it in avocado sauce, sprinkle with ample romaine lettuce, some chopped red onion, jalapeño if you’d like and a dollop of sour cream. Go at it with a fork.

Notes

Roast the sweet potatoes ahead of time and warm them up a bit before assembling the burritos for a quick weeknight meal. You could also bake a batch of them and wrap them up for later, reserving the avocado sauce and toppings for the last minute.

The taste of the avocado sauce is dependent on the type of salsa you use. I recommend a basic, mild salsa verde made with tomatillos.

The avocado sauce will keep well in a bowl in the fridge for a few days. Cover the surface of it with with plastic wrap to minimize contact with air and help ensure that your sauce doesn’t go brown.

If you have leftover sauce, it doubles as a stellar salad dressing on romaine lettuce.

*You don’t necessarily have to bake these burritos (warm tortilla, black beans and sweet potatoes should melt the cheese) but I preferred the faintly crunchy exterior of the baked burrito.

This burrito could easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese and sour cream. Still delicious, I promise!

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #cookieandkate.

Disclaimer: This is a working partnership with Avocados from Mexico and Muy Bueno Cookbook and I was compensated for recipe development. Opinions expressed are my own, always. The truth is I love avocados!

I feel the same way about home- ever since college I’ve been bouncing around every year or two. I can’t wait to get to a place where I feel like it my be a bit more permanent (crossing my fingers that it might be California!)

As for the burrito- delicious. One cannot go wrong with sweet potatoes, black beans, and avocados!

I’ve been thinking about home a lot recently (although somewhat different in that, apart from university, I’ve never lived anywhere other than my city) but when I talk about going ‘home’ what do I mean? Like your parents, mine moved after we left home and I don’t think their current place is really my home although I have a bedroom there. But I still don’t really feel like my flat is home. It’s really weird at times. I think I’m just still searching for my grown up home.

My room at my parent’s house doubles as the guest room. I never decorated it but it’s full of relics from my childhood. It still feels strange to sleep there. At this point, I want to stay open to moving around instead of settling down so I guess home is wherever I make it!

I didn’t realize you lived in Kansas City. my husband and I were just there this past weekend! I didn’t really know what to expect but we really liked it there. we had some really delicious food! I have lived in Michigan most of my life, but we will be moving out of state within the next year so I’m sure I will relate to that feeling. these burritos sound delicious by the way.. avocado and sweet potato are two of my favorite foods.

Ah, home is such a tricky thing. I’ve always felt tied to where my family is, on the farm and such. But I also lived in Toronto/abroad for 8 years and that always felt right at the time too. It’s much more of a concept to me now. If I can make a meal for myself and have a sense of warmth and community where I dwell, it’s home. Easy.

I wanted to add that the photos on this one are so baller. So bright and happy. Love the sound of this roll-y, burrito-enchilada hybrid food vessel smothered in avocado goodness. xo

Thanks, Laura. I’ve definitely realized that home is not just a place and accepting that home may be a more transient concept from here on out. Cookie makes me feel at home wherever we are. :) Thanks for the photo love, too. That burrito posed a challenge.

I will eat avocado on anything! I like to throw together a lot of quick burritos during the week. Waiting for potatoes to bake to put into the burrito is something I’ll have to prepare myself for since it looks delicious, heheh.

Ah yes. Where is home? I’ve lived in a few spots, but Vancouver has always been home. Then we moved to Sweden and now Stockholm is home. It feels as much at home as Vancouver ever did, but when I arrive back after a visit ‘home’ I feel simultaneously home sick and at home. It’s a weird thing.

Sweet potato and avocado crema sound like am amazing burrito combination! The home question is a bit more difficult: we’ve lived in the south SF bay for about eight years–and I spent the 6 earliest years of my childhood here besides–but it’s only been recently that California has even started to feel like home.

This recipe sounds delicious — love black beans and sweet potatoes together, and love avocados, so what’s not to like! Interesting too that you live in Kansas City. We might be moving there next year to house-sit for friends. Have never been there but we’re always up for an adventure!

hi kate – thank you for being so open and for your candid sharing of your life. i love your blog and the inspiration i get from it. the photos are beautiful and have helped me steer my food adventures to be more whole-grain-and-veggie-centric! i wanted to say thank you for that and i look forward to more blog posts and delicious recipes…and of course, i wish you the best in the search for that sense of home. while i haven’t found it completely myself, i have a hunch it’s a journey and perhaps, one that is lifelong…so why not add some great food while we’re at it? ;)

Jamie, thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad to know you’re out there and enjoying my posts. Maybe I’ll never have a home in the old-fashioned sense again, but I like your attitude about good food. :)

This looks yummy! And, it looks very similar to what we were eating this week. I made some portabella mushroom, spinach, and black bean enchiladas with green chili sauce. I was eating them with avocado on the side, and Josh happened to eat them with leftover mashed sweet potatoes, too. He claimed it was a tasty combination, but I have to admit, your combo sounds better!

As for home… who’s to say you can’t have several? I had a very similar experience when I traveled back and forth from Colorado to Oklahoma… They both felt like going home! I decided that instead of feeling torn between two places, I should feel lucky for having two places I loved enough to call home.

Your enchiladas sound amazing, Stephanie. I have something similar in mind to post soon. I feel like in this day and age, lots of people have more than one home. I’m trying to accept it as my reality; I’ll get there. Hope to see you when I’m back in town for Thanksgiving!

A table at Pepe’s will always be home. I cry during movies and sad commercials and reading particularly moving chapters of my favorite novels, but I really wished I could have mustered a sob that night at Pepe’s. I love my friends so much, and being so far from all of them isn’t easy, but I’m happy we’re all close to where we want to be, if not exactly where we want to be.

The avocado salsa verde was incredible! Did not have fresh jalepeno, so just used red chili flakes. My husband and I used it as a salad dressing the next day. He is begging me to make it again. It will be my go to sauce from now on. The enchiladas were great too.

This looks fabulous, Kate! I always have said that moving has been one of the hardest things I’ve done. It’s something that seemed to affect me a lot, in ways I never imagined. I now live in my hometown, but oddly still feel like my home is back in NYC, even though it never felt rooted there. Go figure.

Burrito looks great and sounds delicious. I have been trying to consume a bit less meat and really kick up the vegetables in my diet. This burrito looks like a great lunch with no meat. Thanks for the post.

I made this with a girlfriend on Halloween and it was AMAZING! The burrito and the avocado verde were both easy to make and seemingly simple but had super complex flavors, it was soo good! I’ve made a lot of things from your blog and this has joined the stuffed globe zucchini as a repeat meal :)

I think that we’re all allowed to have more than one ‘home’. Having moved repeatedly, I know how hard and confusing it can be. I guess I’ve come to terms that home is simply a place that embraces us with is sense of comfort and warmth when we’re there. I’m sure you’ll settle in to your new home soon! :)

And this recipe looks amazing. Avocado and sweet potato are some of my favorite things on earth!

Hi Kate, me again! I just made this recipe and it’s delish! A huge hit with the bf. As for the salsa verde, we don’t seem to have it here, so I tried to make the sauce myself without it, but added capers and parsley into it as well (I don’t think we have tomatillos here…and it was a little hard to get avocados from Mexico :}). I also subbed the sweet potato with pumpkin. And to answer your question – yes, we do have butternut squash here in NZ. I will try that recipe of yours for the chili next time. As we are heading into summer down here, our pumpkins and squash are out of season, but I’ll have to keep it in mind for next autumn :} I’m looking for a good vegetarian recipe to make on Christmas Eve to take down to my auntie’s house with me on Christmas Day. Do you have any suggestions? I’m looking forward to trying some of your baking recipes next. Many thanks, Whytney :}

Hi Kate,
I live in India and absolutely love your blog. This recipe is absolutely fabulous and all of us at home loved it.
We have an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables in my part of the country and you are an inspiration to try different things!

Hi Kavita, thank you so much for your comment. I’m delighted to hear that you are enjoying my blog and my recipes! I hope to publish some more recipes with Indian flavors this winter. I’d love to visit India someday!

Maybe I should know this but how can or what should I wrap the potatoes to save for later? My family is against avacadoes so I don’t get them often. I also don’t know how to get good avacadoes. Anyway, I have prepared the potatoes and will go get the rest of the ingredients later. This looks absolutely delicious!! I’m not sure what brought me here (your site) but I’m glad I found it. Checking out the rest of your recipes now.
Kristen in NC

Sorry for the delayed response, Kristen. I kept the potatoes in a bowl covered with saran wrap and cooked the burritos the next day. I look for avocados that have a little bit of give to them and let them ripen on the counter at home.

These burritos were AMAZING! My husband is a burrito fanatic and he said these were the best he’s ever had; he is in love with the sauce. We will definitely be making these again! I featured this recipe in my most recent weekly meal plan on my blog, thank you!

We have made this recipe at least 3 times in the past 2 weeks… we did find we needed to use a lower temp and shorter cooking time to avoid burning the sweet potatoes (350 x 40min) but they are SO DELICIOUS! we have also found that we can make them ahead of time (like at night after the kid is in bed) and use them COLD with the cold beans and the sauce as a gourmet picnic taco delight! yum!

These look amazing, Kate! I want to try your sweet potato + black been enchiladas this week when I have vegetarian guests over, but I was wondering if you think this avocado salsa verde would be a good sub for a traditional salsa verde or would it be too much?

Also, have any salad or side recommendations that might pair well with the enchiladas?

Hey Rosie! I hope your guests love the enchiladas. The avocado salsa verde would make the dish more rich (and delicious), but don’t bake the enchiladas with avocados on top—I’m convinced that avocados taste overripe and gross after they’ve been heated. You could always just top the enchiladas with avocado slices if you want to take an easier route. Enchilada sides… you could be traditional and serve it with beans and rice. Sounds like I need more Mexican salads on the blog. Here’s my default salad. This lime-marinated kale is really good, and you could dress it up with some avocado or crispy tortilla strips or sliced cherry tomatoes (totally out of season, I know). Whew, hope that helped.

I just had one of these while waiting cooking Curried Cauliflower Soup. Very, very delicious. I substituted plain non-fat Greek Yogurt for the sour cream to get the yummy sour taste and mouth feel. I’m going to use the Avocado Salsa Verde for veggie dips and other recipes, too.

oh. my. god. I want to thank you for introducing me to the magical combination that is sweet potatoes, black beans, and avocado. who knew?! plus I was able to whip this up almost entirely from stuff I already had, which was awesome :)

I tried this recipe yesterday and was so excited to eat it! The burritos turned out fantastic, but I must have done something very wrong with the sauce because it turned out really, really bitter. I tried adding sugar to tone down the bitterness but it didn’t work. And I hate to waste all the sauce. I think it was either the limes or the cilantro in the recipe. I peeled and added a whole lime (before I realized it should just be the juice). And I only used the cilantro leaves but some stems could’ve made it in there. I look forward to making it again but I don’t want to ruin another batch. Any ideas on where I went wrong?

Hey Sarah, I’m sorry your sauce didn’t turn out great! I think the lime pith is what made the sauce taste bitter. The cilantro stems shouldn’t make any difference. You shouldn’t have trouble with just lime juice next time! Salt cuts the taste of bitterness, if you want to try adding more to your original sauce, but it sounds like a lost cause. :(

So I just finished a New Years resolution to try to cook 50 recipes over 2014 that I have never cooked before (to break my bad habit of living off scrambled eggs and veggie burgers), and out of all of them this was the winner. Thank you so much for sharing it! (for the record a bunch of your other dishes are pretty high up on the list as well)

I made these today for cinco de mayo. Unfortunately I burnt the sweet potato a bit. Even so they were great. Everyone loved the avocado salsa. So amazing!! Even the kids who thought they didn’t like avocados. I will make this again for sure.

We just finished these for dinner and this is another winner recipe from you with the combination of black beans, sweet potatoes and avocados. My daughter had asked me to make one of your other recipes but she was glad I made these. My husband said we have to have this again, no argument from me! If I need a vegetarian recipe, your site is the go to place for me. Thank you!

Thank you so much for maintaining such a fantastic blog! I have loved every recipe of your’s– and my (usually) meat-loving husband does too! I appreciate that the ingredients aren’t terribly pricey and are easy to find. I’m looking forward to trying out some more recipes this summer.

Kate – hi from Washington, DC. My good friend from Norway was visiting me and introduced me to your site. Since her visit I’ve made two of your recipes, including this one. My husband and I are blown away! He immediately commented that there is no way you’re single. ;) Keep it up!

I’ve never posted on this blog before but I just had to thank you for creating and sharing these wonderful recipes! They are so savory, scrumptious, and filling. I made this one last night for my friends and it was a hit! This and the Asian Chopped Kale Salad with Edamame, Carrot and Avocado are my favorites. I’ll be trying the other sweet potato recipes and kale salads! Thanks again! Love your writing and photos!

This might be one of my favourite, go-to recipes – the flavour is amazing, and I love it is (almost) as tasty on days 2 and 3 as it is on day 1. Excellent for a single person who wants to cook once for several meals!

When you say “combine the avocado flesh,” do you mean the skin or the inside? Sorry if this might be a silly question, I’ve just always referred to the flesh of something, being the skin. Should like a fire dish. Can’t wait to try it! :)

I have to second Chaz’s question, are there any alternatives to salsa verde? Recipe looks soo delicious, but unfortunately I can’t seem to find it at all here in England! Would normal red salsa completely ruin the taste? I did consider making it myself but it can end up a bit pricey buying all the herbs when you don’t have your own herb garden.

Sorry to hear you can’t find salsa verde! It’s one of my favorite condiments. I wouldn’t use red salsa; the flavor is significantly different and it will turn a gross brown color if you blend it with avocado. I’d use this avocado sauce instead.

My wife and I made this for the first time today. Actually last night, I roasted a couple red bell peppers, prepared and roasted the sweet potatoes, and made the avocado sauce. It was super easy to assemble, though, I did tuck the ends of the burrito in :-) In your recipe I think you should specify the weight of the sweet potato…I “googled” medium sweet potato and decided that a one pound sweet potato is enough for this recipe, and it was. Great, satisfying, flavorful, easy recipe. We will be making this again and again. Thank you!

Made this for my mom during my visit this week. I live in nyc & she lives in NJ. Had to remove the salsa verde from the recipe since my mom can’t tolerate tomatoes, but even the avocado sauce was fantastic. My mom said this was one of the best things she’s eaten this year!

Thank you for your wonderful blog. I’m an ovo lacto vegetarian & try to eat as much whole food as I can. Your blog really helps me create wonderful meals that all my non-vegetarian friends & family still love.

UNBELIEVABLE. If I could give this recipe 10 stars, I would. If I could only take one thing with me to a desert island, I would take this dish. If I could have this dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would (and have). If I had to choose a a recipe which perfectly describes everything joyful in the world, I would choose this one. If I were to look up the definition of delicious in the dictionary, I would find this recipe.

Y-E-S! Carnivorous bf LOVED it! We absolutely smothered it in the avo sauce/salsa. We added tomato and coriander (cilantro) on top too. Other housemate who is allergic to sweet potato had pumpkin (butternut). What a win.